


When my heartbeat stops will you stay mine?

by hosiecvlt



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Hosie Endgame, Slow Burn, bits of Dark Josie, tribrid hope, uhm some fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:41:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27247441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hosiecvlt/pseuds/hosiecvlt
Summary: After being desiccated for two years, Hope Mikaelson is accidentally awoken. With the loss of her parents and uncle erased from her mind, she soon finds herself at the Salvatore school, under the supervision of the vampire hunter that had desiccated her: Alaric Saltzman.Or;the AU where Hope becomes a full tribrid before attending the Salvatore school.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 19
Kudos: 225





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> https://youtu.be/pFp05alGLow

When Hope wakes up, her body aches and her tongue is stained with blood. She reacts to the taste blindly, hands finding purchase on the object. 

A human. 

She doesn’t think twice before her fangs sink into their neck. Their heartbeat rings in her ears, thundering louder with each passing second as they let out a few surprised gasps before their voice gives out. It’s not much later that the body collapses against Hope, and she has to tighten her grip. Blood surges into her mouth, only fueling her to take more. 

To take and take, because it belongs to  _ her  _ now. She doesn’t know what to do, other than to take greedily, and when she drops the body to the ground, she’s struggling to breathe. The boy doesn’t look like he was much older than Hope, and when she inspects his body, she notices a small wound on his finger. That must be the reason why she was woken up so strangely. 

Despite just draining a human of blood, she feels pain in the back of her head. Her surroundings are still a bit blurry, still foreign to her as she tries to gather her senses. 

“Tommy?”

The voice comes from outside, a hint of worry. 

“Dude, stop messing around! Tommy!” 

Footsteps echo, and there’s hands on her shoulders, shaking her roughly. “What did you do to him?” 

“Don’t touch me.” Hope rasps out. She pushes him away. The pain in her head becomes more noticeable now, sharper. Against her will, her fangs pop out again, cutting her mouth in the process. 

She lurches forward, and the person in her arms struggles against her, but their attempts are futile. It only takes a few moments for Hope to drain them of blood. 

With this one, Hope tries to take her time. Relishes in the taste, the way it surges through her veins and how she doesn’t think it will ever be enough. All she can think is to take, to rip it away from the warmth under her hands. 

After the second one drops, the pain that was in the back of her head has become a dull, bearable throb. She quickly realizes that she’s made a mess, blood smeared all over her face, staining her shirt and underneath her nails. Hope leaves them there, stumbling out of the building she was previously in. 

It’s when she’s outside she recognizes where she is: Lafayette Cemetery. 

Only thing is, Hope has no recollection of  _ why  _ she was desiccated in Lafayette Cemetery. Surely, if her family had felt the need to take such drastic measures with her, they would not have left her in the home of the nine covens of New Orleans. 

Her presence, desiccated or not, would not have been taken lightly. 

She’s Hope Mikaelson, daughter of Hayley Marshall and Klaus Mikaelson. Daughter of the great evil, the first one of her kind. She was thought to have brought doomsday upon life as she knew it. 

Home. 

She needs to get home and find her parents. 

Surely, they have answers, reasons.  _ Valid  _ reasons. Her parents will be home, and they will figure it all out. Perhaps they’re at home, planning and plotting a way to help her. Of course they are. They’re her parents, and her parents have fought for her since before she was born- now would be no different. 

Going home to them is all Hope could ever ask for. 

Hope wanders home, in the dark, alone. It even begins to pour. Despite Hope naturally running warm with all of that werewolf DNA she had inherited, the rain is cold and heavy enough to chill her to the bone. She keeps her hands in her pockets and her head ducked to avoid being recognized. 

She’s lost and confused- she has no idea who would try to take her off the streets right now. 

When she reaches home, all the lights are turned off, and there’s not a single sign that the place is inhabited at all. Which is strange- between her parents, and all of her aunts and uncles, the place is rarely left alone. Not to mention, it’s also a magnet for fights- whenever someone from their past decides they want to take matters into their own hands. 

The gates are unlocked, and Hope instinctively checks the dining room first, and finds nothing. Even after changing into some of her dry clothes, she still feels a bit of a chill- something telling her that things are wrong, that she needs to find someone, anyone willing to help. 

“Mom?” 

No response. 

“Dad?” Hope tries, raising her voice. After growing up with five supernaturals that have super hearing, Hope never raised her voice- not really. All she had to do was call out for them, and they would come running. 

No luck with calling out for her father, either. She almost calls out for Uncle Elijah or Kol, but they would have sought her out by now if they were home. 

With nobody answering, she begins her own search of the home, dipping into the kitchen to see if Freya or Davina may be there. When it turns up empty, she takes the time to look in their rooms.

All of the bedrooms are empty, but nothing is out of the ordinary. Despite the outside looking cold and deserted, it still feels like home. As if any second, her father will storm in and demand someone’s presence, or if Freya will come out of the library after researching for more spells. 

The library, of course. 

Hope runs to the library, over shoots the door by a few feet with her superspeed- she still hasn’t gotten used to it. 

It’s when Hope’s in the library that the pain in her head suddenly returns, strong enough to make Hope feel lightheaded and grab purchase on the table. She was looking at one of the pictures that have all of them together- her and her mother laughing over something. 

The memory flashes in her mind. It was her seventeenth birthday, before she turned. Josh had taken the picture, one of the few good,  _ happy  _ pictures of her entire family. She tries to search her own mind for more information, for any hints of where they could be. How does her entire family disappear? They’re  _ Mikaelson’s.  _ If anyone were strong enough to do so, there would be signs of a fight, signs of struggle. 

Instead, it looks like Hope’s family simply packed up their bags and left in the middle of the night. Not a single clue of telling Hope what happened, or where to go. 

Hope starts panicking a bit then- although she would never admit it. She grabs a few of their belongings and attempts a tracking spell, with no luck. When  _ that  _ doesn’t work she attempts to Astral Project to them, but that doesn’t work either. 

She spends hours alone in the library, reading over Freya and Davina’s notes, reading through their books as fast as she can. Reads up on other types of tracking spells, other spells that could help find them instead of Astral Projection, but none of them help.

When she picks up a new book and flips it open, a piece of paper falls to the floor. 

Hope watches it float to the ground before taking in a deep breath- this could be the missing piece she’s looking for. 

She musters up the courage to pick it up, expecting it to be some sort of ransom note, but it isn’t. She recognizes the handwriting as Freya’s. The paper simply has a phone number on one side, and a name on the other. 

Hope knows that name. She grew up hearing stories about it from her parents, and how much they despise each other. How he’s one of the greatest vampire hunters of his generation. Hope feels anger boil in her chest just at the sight of his name. 

_ Alaric Saltzman.  _


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy ;)

After a quick study session, Hope gathers all the information on Alaric Saltzman that she needs. 

Vampire Hunter. Widowed by Josette Laughlin. Father of two daughters- twins. Former vampire. Headmaster of The Salvatore Boarding School in Mystic Falls. 

On paper, he’s quite interesting. It’s clear that throughout his life, he was surrounded by supernaturals, but Hope doesn’t understand how he went from one of the greatest vampire hunters to the headmaster of a school that protects them. She understands if he had built the school to protect his daughters, but allowing werewolves and vampires to enroll simply defeats the purpose.

His daughters are easily more interesting than him. 

Elizabeth and Josette Saltzman. Siphoners. Eighteen. There's documentation of them helping Bonnie Bennet creating a prison world when they were younger, which is impressive. Not any group of normal witches can achieve that, and much less at the age they did. 

Other than that, Alaric Saltzman’s daughters are a big question mark in the mess Hope has found herself in. There’s not even any pictures of them, but there’s a few points of evidence that points to Caroline Forbes helping Alaric raise them- maybe Caroline being a vampire changed the outcome for his school. 

Hope’s father was fond of Caroline Forbes- Hope even met the blonde vampire a few times when she was younger. Vague memories of her being kind to Hope are all Hope truly knows about the woman. 

Kind smile, kind eyes. Friendly with her parents, without being afraid of them or Hope. 

It makes Hope wonder if Caroline has any answers, because while Alaric Saltzman may be the face of the Salvatore School, may be the headmaster to the students, Caroline is clearly the reason why they have been so successful. 

She attempts to call the number on the paper that’s with Alaric’s name, but the first time she does, it simply goes to voicemail. The second time she does, she hears a slurred, “Hello?” 

Hope hangs up at that. She won’t waste her time talking to some drunken idiot.

It turns out, that’s exactly what Alaric Saltzman is. 

A drunken idiot. 

No wonder her father was never very fond of him, with Alaric drinking his days away when he has two daughters that deserve his undivided attention. On top of that, he’s the headmaster of a school for the supernatural. 

Hope finds herself wondering how his daughters handle it, knowing they are the least of his worries. It must be lonely that way, after their mother was so brutally murdered. Now their father is just some washed up, lazy, alcoholic. 

She writes down her options. 

_ Stay home. Wait for someone to return.  _

_ Continue researching.  _

_ Go to the Salvatore School and get answers from Alaric Saltzman.  _

Hope crosses off the first one with an annoyed sigh. Of course, the logical part of her knew that it wasn’t a viable option. If she stayed home and waited for someone to return, she could be waiting days. Weeks, months,  _ years.  _ Her family are originals. There’s always the possibility that they’re hidden around the world, with a dagger in their chest, waiting for someone to find them and wake them up. 

She grew up hearing the stories. It wouldn’t be the first time someone she cares about was daggered. 

Continuing her own research would be useless, since it’s practically the same as her just sitting around and waiting for somebody to return. Especially when her Aunt has left behind Alaric Saltzman’s number. 

Clearly, the last option is Hope’s only option. 

Great. 

Hope cleans herself up after deciding that she has to go to the Salvatore School. She showers and puts some clean clothes on, packing a bag. She considers bringing two along, but it would just slow her down. She ends up throwing some clothes out, storing some books into her bag carefully. 

She sleeps in her own bed that night, feeling drained from the day’s events, although she was basically asleep for who knows how long. 

When she wakes up, she feels more alone than before. The air in her house is chiller than usual, emptier than before. Hope tries to not linger too much on the thought, since it only makes her upset- she can’t afford to be upset. Not when she needs to go to the Salvatore School and find answers. 

So, she swallows it down and focuses on the task at hand. 

She needs to find her family- that’s all that matters right now. It’s a simple task, something that’s achievable- as long as she finds Alaric Saltzman. There’s no other explanation for his name to be left behind, for Hope to find it if he didn’t have any answers for her. 

Once she leaves her house, her bag slung over her shoulder, Hope doesn’t look back. If it’s because it would pain her too much to do so, Hope doesn’t admit it. 

Thankfully, she doesn’t run into any trouble on her way to the bus stop, or any on the bus. There’s only a few other people who want to make the trek from New Orleans to Mystic Falls. 

Hope doesn’t blame them. Compared to New Orleans, Mystic Falls is child’s play. Boring, unless they’re supernatural. Hope doubts any of them are, or she would already be having issues with them. 

Her ride is uneventful- boring, even. Not even the books Hope had packed can keep her entertained. It sucks. She thinks about compelling the driver to stop and let her off, since she’s positive that she could find her own way to the Salvatore School faster herself, but she doesn’t. 

When people see things they don’t understand, word travels fast, and the last thing Hope wants is all attention on her. Or make a mistake that she can’t fix.

Hours pass. Hope counts the off in her head. The guy sitting a few rows ahead of her falls asleep and starts to snore loudly- it bothers Hope, but she does her best to ignore it. She had always promised herself she wouldn’t have the same temper her father does. 

By the time the bus stops at some rundown stop in the middle of Mystic Falls, Hope starts to wonder if any of this is worth it- Alaric might not even help her. He might just turn her away. Not that Hope would accept that for an answer, but still. 

She doesn’t bother to stop in town. She goes straight to the school, taking the shortcut through the woods. They aren’t familiar to her, not yet, but she finds her way through them fairly easily. 

She can’t be less than a mile away from the school when it happens. She sets off a hunter’s trap, and ends up with two arrows lodged in her back. 

“Jesus, fuck.” Hope curses. She manages to yank them out with any issue, but she doesn’t move right away. 

Instead, she stays there and tunes into her hearing. The longer she listens, the more she can hear separate footsteps. There’s at least six hunters in the woods that she can hear, two sets of footsteps running closer to her. Two have slowed to a stop, and when she tilts her head a bit, she hears a hushed argument. 

Then there’s the sound of shoes hitting pavement instead of leaves, and suddenly it turns into shoes banging on wooden steps. She may be mistaken, but she thinks she even hears the person pulling out a weapon- a gun, maybe. 

The Salvatore School. 

Hope follows the sound and reaches the steps in a few seconds. Without thinking, her fangs already reacting, she grabs a hold of the man and sinks her teeth into his neck. 

He struggles, pushing against Hope and attempting to elbow her, but he fails miserably as she continues to swallow his blood. 

As she continues to feed on him, the sound of someone gasping barely resonates in her ears. 

Hope stops feeding and looks up.

There’s a moment, after the man’s lifeless body drops to the ground with a heavy thud that time seems to freeze for a second. There’s a brunette girl standing in the doorway, in nothing but shorts and a yellow tee-shirt with the Salvatore logo pressed onto it. Hope thinks about making a comment about how it’s freezing outside, but the words fail her.

Blue eyes meet brown.

Brown eyes stare into Hope’s blue ones, and Hope momentarily forgets that she’s covered in blood, that there’s a dead man at her feet as she stands on the front steps of the Salvatore School. 

Hope knows exactly who the girl is. 

Josette Saltzman. 

Time is frozen, and they are left staring at each other. Josette doesn’t take her eyes off of Hope, and Hope’s chest is heaving, trying to catch her breath. 

When she inhales through her nose in an attempt to gain control, Hope quickly realizes it’s a mistake as she’s overwhelmed by Josette’s scent- like vanilla and lavender. Suddenly, her eyes are flashing gold and Hope stumbles back, looking away.

“There’s a pack of vampire hunters outside your school.” Hope tells her calmly. 

Almost  _ too  _ calmly, a stark contrast from the way her heart is hammering in her chest. The brunette doesn’t even blink an eye, doesn’t even freak out at the lifeless body at Hope’s feet. Instead, she takes a step closer and grabs Hope’s wrist. Their skin glows orange for a few moments, and suddenly she’s yanking Hope behind her. 

Josette responds too calmly, too easily. As if she has expected danger to show up at her door.

“Hey-” Hope starts to complain, but loses her voice when she realizes that there’s still four hunters- who are all now on their knees, groaning in pain. 

Josette is performing a pain infliction spell. 

Hope has been involved on the wrong side of those a few times, and the look of determination on the siphoner's face tells her she doesn’t want to suffer from hers, either. Hope watches as they all struggle against the spell, attempting to ease the pain in their head or attempting to get back to their feet, but Josette doesn’t relent. 

Eventually, they start to bleed from their nose and ears. 

Hope rests a cautious hand on Josette’s shoulder, and when the brunette looks back at her, Hope catches a glimpse of it. Hope thinks that she may have even imagined it, but she’s sure her eyes don’t deceive her. 

Josette blinks, and the black is gone, but Hope  _ knows  _ what she saw. 

Whoever Josette Saltzman is, she’s been dabbling into dark magic. 

“Josette?” 

“Josie! Come here!” 

Alaric Saltzman is standing in the doorway, a crossbow in his hand as he reaches out to Josie with his other one. 

“Dad-”

“Get over here. Stay away from her.” He practically hisses the words at Hope, ignoring the presence of four vampire hunters- who are slowly recovering from Josie’s pain infliction spell. 

“They were going to hurt her, so I-”

“She killed one of them,” He replies quickly, raising his crossbow once he is sure that Josie is behind him. “Leave. All of you.” 

He points it at her, and Hope laughs. 

“You know that won’t do anything to me. Besides, I can fix your little problem.” 

Alaric stares at her with cold eyes, keeping his crossbow raised. Behind him, Josie is looking at Hope with an unreadable expression, but she tugs on the collar of Alaric’s jacket. 

“She saved me.” Josie whispers. 

Alaric hesitates briefly, looking at Josie, probably to see if she’s lying. 

He tenses up again quickly, looking at Hope again. “I have no place here for you.” His voice is softer than it was seconds ago, and he doesn’t quite meet her eyes. 

He’s lying. Hope  _ knows  _ he is. Her aunt would have never left his name behind if that were the case.

“Move.” He commands, and Hope reacts, out of instinct. She steps to the side, and the arrow from his crossbow flies past and sinks itself into the chest of one of the hunters. 

He falls to the ground, next to the one that Hope hand killed earlier, gasping for air, only to start choking on his own blood. 

The last three hunters hesitate, looking at their dying friend, and three of them standing at the porch. 

Hope steps closer. She’s compelled very few people; she’s never liked to do it, not the way her father and his siblings did, but she had learned that there’s always a time and place. 

“You will never return to the Salvatore School. Whoever sent you here will have to come get what they want themselves.” 

Almost zombie-like, the last four hunters mumble amongst themselves and start to leave. Hope nudges one of the lifeless bodies with the heel of her boot. 

Alaric watches her carefully. He never lowers his crossbow, and Josette-  _ Josie _ , never takes her eyes off of Hope, despite Alaric’s many warnings and commands to leave. 

Hope walks around the porch slowly. Alaric becomes more antsy, more nervous as he shifts on the balls of his feet. Hope waits for him to crack, for him to start yelling at her again. 

It takes a few more minutes of Hope pacing, but he finally breaks the silence. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” He demands. 

Hope smiles. Of course he’s playing dumb. Hope hadn’t expected anything different. 

“You know why.” 

“No, I don’t,” He answers quickly. “You can go now.” 

“My family seems to be missing,” Hope starts, holding up the slip of paper her Aunt Freya had left behind. “And  _ you _ have answers.” 

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

After the whole scandal of there being Supernatural hunters lurking in the woods on school grounds, Alaric is wary of allowing Hope into the school, despite the fact that Josette begins to vouch for her. 

Hope’s a bit flattered. A girl she doesn’t even know is vouching for her, protecting her without question. It’s a nice feeling, a sense of some sort of security, after all of the confusion and loneliness Hope has experienced since she woke up. 

Not that two days is a long time, but still. Hope likes it. 

She spends around another forty minutes on the porch with Alaric pointing his crossbow at her. It takes everything in her power to not compulse him. The only things that stop her is the fact that it could bite her in the ass later, and the fact that his daughter is watching their whole interaction. She would have to compulse both of them, and the idea of compulsing Josette is not as entertaining as compulsing Alaric. 

Eventually, with a heavy sigh, he lowers his crossbow and allows Hope in. Josette gives her a kind smile, one that Hope manages to return. 

Things are awkward. Alaric lets her in and suddenly, Hope’s sitting at a dinner table with him and Josette. The table is filled with food, and Alaric is more than happy to fill his plate with piles of food as Hope and Josie watch with mildly disgusted faces. Hope doesn’t think she’s ever seen a grown man eat so messily. 

Josette clears her throat awkwardly, but Alaric doesn’t react, but ends up taking a large sip of whiskey as he glares at Hope. Hope glares back. 

“I- uhm… Are you hungry, Hope?” 

“I already ate, thank you, though.” Hope answers Josette, trying to not sound annoyed. The girl hasn’t done anything wrong, but it’s been proven that her father is a pain in the ass, and Hope doesn’t want to waste any time. 

Something flickers across the siphoner’s face, and Hope realizes she shouldn’t have called the man she just killed a meal, despite how refreshing he was. 

“You should eat something,” Hope whispers. “Doing a spell like that can be draining.” 

Josette glances at her father, who’s filling his empty cup. Hope rolls her eyes. Alaric has already had two glasses of whiskey and refuses to talk to her, or his daughter. She has a feeling it’s going to be a long night. Luckily enough for Alaric, Hope can be very patient when she wants to be. 

“For most witches.” 

“Are you implying you’re not most witches?” 

“Maybe.” 

Hope leans across the table, lowers her voice, careful to make sure Alaric doesn’t hear her. The girl across from her leans in as well, as if she thinks that Hope has some important secret to tell her. “And what about all that dark magic, looking for a place to go? It must be exhausting trying to control it.” 

“And what about all that power? You must feel like you’re going to explode at any second, at any thing.” 

Hope narrows her eyes. “What do you mean?” 

“When I siphoned from you earlier, I felt it. All that power and magic you have. There’s no way you’re able to control yourself all the time with that power and magic laying around.” 

Hope leans back, crossing her arms as she looks over the girl. Josette mimics her actions, and Hope stares at her.

Hope has never met a siphoner before, much less talk to one  _ or  _ have them siphon from her until today. She truly had no idea that Josette could feel the power Hope contains. She had thought that Josette would simply take what she needed to perform the spell and move on with her life. 

“Can you still feel it?” Hope questions, genuinely curious. 

“Yes,” Josette answers quickly, almost excitedly. “I feel… energized. Better.” 

“Good.” Hope replies, not sure of what else to say. Clearly, she has much she can learn from the girl. Unfortunately, it will have to wait another day. She came here to get answers from Alaric, and she hasn’t gotten any information from the man. Yet. 

Hope starts to sulk in silence, thinking of all the questions she has for the man as he takes yet another sip of whiskey, acting as if Hope and his daughter don’t exist. 

Josette seems to become upset by this, but she doesn’t say anything. At least, not to her father. 

She hands Hope a napkin. 

“You should clean your face.” 

Right. There’s dry blood caked to Hope’s face, and her jacket. Hope takes the napkin thankfully, feeling a bit foolish, almost as if she’s been scolded at. Like a mother telling their child to learn some manners at the dinner table. 

Josette’s smile is kind enough, but Hope still feels slightly embarrassed. She’s covered in blood and waiting for a man who plans on drinking himself to death to speak to her. 

Hope wipes her face with the napkin, nearly scratching a layer of her own skin off to get rid of the blood. Josette watches her, and Hope’s jaw clenches. There’s something unnerving about the whole thing- being able to smell hints of Josette on the napkin, the girl sitting across from her and all Hope can really focus on now is the way she’s watching her, intensely, like Hope is all Josette wants to focus on. 

Embarrassingly enough, Hope has never had this problem before. She’s been a tribrid long enough, and the scent of someone has never been able to throw her off her footing until now. 

Hope decides she’s never going to speak of it. Nobody needs to know that she can barely handle the scent of vanilla and lavender that Josette carries around, along with… Hope can’t figure it out, but it’s  _ her.  _

Great. Another thing to add to Hope’s list of inconveniences. Her list is getting rather long, one inconvenience piling on after another.

Thank god Hope is only going to be here for a few days. Nothing can go  _ too  _ badly in that amount of time, right? 

“That’s better.” She tells Hope, and Hope finally stops scrubbing at her face like a dumbass. 

She doesn’t seem to think anything different, though. If anything, she finds it slightly humorous with the way her brown eyes seem to sparkle in amusement as Hope finally lowers the napkin. 

“So, Josie,” Alaric slurs. “What did you do in school today?” 

Hope stares at him. Is he seriously drunk already? Did Hope really just waste that much time staring at Josette and talking to her about power and siphoning? At this point, Josette might as well be the one Hope questions to get information about her family. 

“Today is Saturday, Dad.” Josette answers quietly. 

“Josette-”

“Don’t call her that,” Alaric hisses, pointing a fork in Hope’s direction. “You don’t get to call her that, or touch her, or talk to her. You don’t even get to _look_ at her. If you do, I’ll kill you.”

Hope laughs. Alaric stares. Josette-  _ Josie  _ looks like she would rather be somewhere else. Hope doesn’t blame her. Alaric even puts his hand on his crossbow, to get his point across.

“Josie, it is then,” Hope corrects, slowly. She doesn’t take any of Alaric’s words, or threat seriously. “I'll make this easy for all of us. I came here for a reason, and I believe you have answers.” 

“Right, your family is missing,” Alaric waves off Hope’s concern. “That’s not my problem.”

“I found your name and number on a piece of paper left behind by my aunt. Surely you know  _ something _ .” 

“I don’t know anything,” Alaric answers. “Your father is a monster, and I want nothing to do with him or his family, including you.”

“Dad!” Josie objects. “She’s just a kid!” 

Hope frowns. She’s not just a  _ kid _ , but she appreciates the sentiment. 

“I don’t care, Josie. If you ever met her father, you’d understand why I don’t-”

“Growing up, you always told us that you opened this school to protect me and Lizzie, then you wanted it to be a safe place for  _ all  _ supernaturals. That includes Hope.” 

“I’ll protect all supernaturals  _ but  _ her.” Alaric replies, sounding like a stubborn kid. Hope can’t help but laugh again, humorlessly. 

“She can stay until she finds her family,” Josie states, and Hope watches as Alaric’s jaw drops open. “There’s an empty room in the witches wing.” 

“I don’t know who told you that you’re allowed to make decisions like that around here, Josie, but this is enough. Hope’s not staying. End of story.” 

“Half of the students in this school wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me or Lizzie. Hope’s staying. She clearly needs a place until she can find her family. It’s the-”

“Josie! I said no!”

The two of them look away from each other after that. Josie looks at her empty plate in front of her, and Alaric picks up his empty glass.

Alaric mumbles under his breath- things Hope doesn’t feel like repeating, but his mumbling annoys Hope. It’s clear that he’s not appreciating any of the work Josie has done for the school, and now he’s mumbling about what an idiot she is? It makes Hope’s blood boil for some reason. 

She’s usually better at controlling her anger. She swears. 

Her hands slam against the table, hard enough to cause the wood to splinter and crack under her fists. Both of the Saltzman’s look over at Hope in shock, and Hope can’t help but growl at Alaric. (Hope doesn’t even realize that she does.) 

“Apologize to her right now,” Hope demands. “You have no right to say that after all the bullshit she’s done for you and this school.” 

His mouth falls open again, and he starts gaping at her like a fish out of water. When Hope looks over at Josie, she can hear the girl mumble a small, “Thank you.” 

The tension rises in the room after that, and Hope expects Alaric to try to scold at her the same way he did with Josie, but he seems to understand that it’s in his better interests to not do that, drowning himself with the rest of his whiskey. 

Hope looks at Josie, who won’t meet her gaze. 

“Did you cook all of this?” Hope eventually asks. She can’t help but feel like she’s being a rude guest, leaving all of this freshly cooked food uneaten. 

“Uhm. We have a chef but he was gone tonight…”

“So, you did the cooking.” 

Josie nods. 

Hope takes one of the biscuits and smears some butter on it before piling a bunch of food onto her plate, mostly a variety of vegetables and some weird protein substance that she eats right up. She had turned down Josie’s offer to eat before, but she’s realized how hungry she truly is- apparently, draining a full man isn’t enough for a tribrid. 

The food Josie cooked is delicious, aside from the green beans. Hope shoved a forkful into her mouth and nearly spit them all out after the first bite, but being the polite guest she is, she finishes chewing and swallows. 

Josie seems entertained. 

“Do you not like garlic?”

“What?”

“I put garlic on the green beans when I cooked them.” 

That explains it. 

Hope  _ hates  _ garlic.

“I love garlic.” She lies, and starts eating another forkful of green beans to prove her point. 

“It’s funny, a real vampire hating garlic. MG doesn’t like it either.” 

“Is MG your boyfriend?” Hope asks. 

“No, I don’t have a boyfriend, I don’t think my girlfriend would like that very much.” 

Hope blinks, soaking up the information- although it’s not very important for the goals she has in her mind. Josie has a  _ girlfriend.  _

“Oh.” Hope states dumbly. 

“Actually, we got into a fight and she hasn’t talked to me all week, so I don’t know. Maybe she doesn’t care anymore.” 

“She should,” Hope tells Josie. “She’s your girlfriend, she should be begging for your forgiveness and proving her loyalty.” 

Josie gives Hope a strange look. “Did your father teach you that?” 

“Is it that obvious?” 

“Maybe you should try to formulate your own opinions about relationships, it might be good for your brain to do some leg work.” Josie offers. Hope nods, although she doesn’t think she’ll take the advice. Hope doesn’t have time to develop any relationships, much less a romantic one that would just end up being doomed.

“Maybe I will.” 

That marks the end of their conversation, and Josie finally starts to eat some of the food she had prepared. Alaric mumbles and grumbles as he stumbles out of the room, leaving the two of them alone. 

So much for him wanting to protect his daughter. 

Not that Hope would ever hurt Josie. She has no intention to do so. It just proves that Alaric is all bark and no bite, just as she had expected. 

Hope eats a few more biscuits. Josie looks like she’s starting to get tired, and Hope wants to leave the room. Josie must sense Hope’s discomfort, because she stands up, “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.” 

Her room appears to be a few doors away from Josie’s. There’s a bed with nightstands and a dresser, along with a closet, but it’s obvious that the room hasn’t been lived in for a while. There’s hints of Josie in it, which makes sense since the brunette lives at the school, but Josie picks up a pile of books and a few herbs, face flushed with embarrassment. 

“Sorry for the mess, I didn’t think anyone would be using this room,” Josie explains. “I think that’s everything. This is all yours, you’re lucky, you have your own bathroom instead of having to share with the rest of the hall.”

“Is that your dark magic?” 

“I- uhm,” Josie stutters, holding the books closer to her chest. “Some of it is. Why?” 

“You can leave it in here if you want, I’m sure you used this room to hide it from your sister, right? Leave the books here, you can come by and practice whenever you want. Maybe I can teach you a thing or two.” 

Josie hesitates, but eventually, she puts her books back onto the dresser where they were before. 

“Thank you.” 

It confuses Hope, she’s not sure  _ why  _ Josie is thanking her when she hasn’t done anything useful. “It’s not a big deal.” She answers, tossing her duffel bag onto the bed. 

“I, uhm. I’m gonna go, let you get settled in for the night. If you wanna shower the bathroom is already set up.” 

“Thank you,” Hope tells the siphoner,  _ meaning  _ it. Her day could have been a lot worse if it weren’t for her. “For everything you’ve done already.” 

“It’s not a big deal, we take people in all the time.” 

“I appreciate it, a lot. This is the only place I could really go to.” 

“If that’s the case, I’m glad you’re here.” Josie smiles at Hope kindly, and Hope wonders if it would be too much if she asked the other witch to stay longer. 

“Thank you,” Hope repeats, when she finds Josie standing in the doorway. “I appreciate it.”

“Well, if you need anything, I’m just down the hall.”

“Right. Goodnight Josie.”

“Good night, Hope.” 

  
  



End file.
